IDENTIFICATION OF ROCKS AND THEIR QUARTZ CONTENT IN AMARKANTAK, INDIA USING ASTER TIR DATA

Abstract. Quartz (SiO₂) abundance in rock is an important indicator of mineralization in many metal deposits and quartz detection has a great role in mineral exploration. The present study identified the quartz contained rocks in Amarkantak region, India applying thermal infrared bands (bands 10–14) of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image. After atmospheric correction, principal component analysis technique was applied on the TIR bands and the resulting principal component images were analyzed. The three optimal principal components were selected based on the spectral interaction strength and the eigenvalues of each band of the ASTER data. The result presented that extrusive igneous rock and carbonate sedimentary rocks are quartz-poor while sedimentary rocks made up of organic particles and sandstone is quartz-rich.